ROCHESTER — The Packers football team played with the Rockets for a half of football and then a series of very unfortunate events cost them dearly as they lost 32-7 at Rochester John Marshall Saturday.

The Packers (0-1 overall) held an 7-6 lead at the half and they had the ball to start the second half, but after Austin punted on its first possession the Rockets took over. Cazz Martin gave JM a 12-7 lead with a three-yard TD with 6:54 left in the third quarter, Dontrel Johnson picked off a pass and ran it back 35 yards for a score to make it 19-7 with 6:39 left in the third. Nate Conner fumbled on Austin’s next play and Jordan Velez hauled in a nine yard TD pass to put the Rockets up 25-7 with 3:18 left in the third.

“Jakob [Crouch] threw a bad one that they returned for a touchdown. You just can’t do that,” Austin head coach Brett Vesel said. “Then Nate fumbled and I can’t remember the last time Nate Conner fumbled a ball. It was uncharacteristic of us.”

Austin’s rushing attack also went South in the second half. Austin had just 46 rushing yards in the second frame, with 21 coming on a late burst by Jon Gallahger, in the second half after running for 99 yards in the first half.

“The blocks we missed on the offensive line, were blocks we always make every day in practice against our first team defense,” Vesel said. “Even in the first half, we stopped ourselves a lot of times.”

The Packers controlled the game for much of the first half. Austin stopped JM on a fourth and three from the Packer 28-yard line early on and Kaden Igou broke up a pass at the goal line on fourth down at the end of the half to preserve Austin’s 7-6 lead. The Packers took their lead when Crouch lunged in from a yard out on third and goal to cap a nine play, 47-yard drive that put Austin ahead 7-0.

“There’s a lot of potential in this whole team. We have some minor things to fix, but we’re a good team overall,” Crouch said. “I wanted to play like [we did in the first half] the whole game. The first half was excellent. I was a little nervous at first, but once I get out here and started playing it felt great.”

Vesel said it was tough for some of the team to get going with just two weeks of practice and no scrimmage.

“We’ve got some newer guys that got exposed a little bit, whether they were receivers or offensive linemen. I think defensively it was the same thing,” Vesel said. “We just didn’t really get a chance to see some of these guys. There were guys starting that we didn’t see all summer and that hurt us tonight, especially without a scrimmage.”

Austin will host Winona 7 p.m Friday as it debuts its new artificial at Art Hass Stadium.

SCORING SUMMARY

Austin 0 7 0 0 — 7

JM 0 6 20 7 — 32

First quarter

No scoring

Second quarter

(A) Jakob Crouch 1 run (Nate Conner kick) (9 plays, 47 yards) 10:02

(JM) Cazz Martin 13 run (run failed) (7 plays, 51 yards) 7:11

Third quarter

(JM) Martin 3 run (run failed) (9 plays, 49 yards) 6:54

(JM) Dontrel Johnson 35 interception return (Eric Byrne kick) (11 plays, 35 yards) 6:39

(JM) Jordan Velez 9 pass from Jack Stien (kick failed) (7 plays, 27 yards) 3:18

Fourth quarter

(JM) Martin 64 run (Byrne kick) (6 plays, 74 yards) 6:23

AUSTIN STATS

Rushing: Nate Conner, 17-for-65; Jon Gallagher, 6-for-39; Jakob Crouch, 14-for-36, TD; Elijah Andersen, 1-for-5; Tate Hebrink, 1-for-0; Jesse Synoground, 1-for-(-1)

Passing: Crouch, 14-for-38, 144, 2 INT; Tate Hebrink, 1-for-2, 16

Receiving: Jany Gash, 4-for-46; Conner, 2-for-30; Jason Stoulil, 3-for-27; Elijah Andersen, 3-for-27; Tyler Tupy, 2-for-9

Sacks: Spencer Lee (1)

Fumble recoveries: Jayden Erie (!); Logan Braaten (1)

Penalties: 5-for-50

JM STATS

Rushing: 275

Passing: 44

Penalties: 10-for-87